Monitoring Education Participation : Framework for Monitoring Children and Adolescents who are Out of School or at Risk of Dropping Out

Abstract

An estimated 61 million children of primary-school age, 60 million young adolescents of lower-secondary school age and 142 million of upper secondary age are out of school, based on the latest figures as of 2016. The children who are not enrolled in school are often those from the most socially marginalized communities, including children with disabilities, children from ethnic-minority communities, children excluded because of gender barriers and children living in extreme poverty. All of these children have the right to education and are currently being deprived of that right. Moreover, education – including high-quality pre-school – benefits not just the individuals themselves, but also society, such as in terms of lower unemployment, reduced criminality, more social cohesion, higher tax revenues, and lower public health and welfare expenditures. Underlying the problem of OOSC are key data, analysis and policy gaps. There is a general lack of adequate tools and methodologies to identify OOSC, to measure the scope and describe the complexity of exclusion and disparities, to assess the reasons for exclusion, and to inform policy and planning. There is a need to acquire a better overview of existing data, utilize the range of data collected through administrative records and household surveys and make more effective use of such data sources. More information is needed on profiling OOSC and on the multiple and overlapping forms of exclusion and disparities that affect them. The data also needs to be better used, as often data are not leveraged for policy purposes. The importance of relevant and reliable data was emphasized in the original Education for All (EFA) goals and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and once again is being emphasized in the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In particular, emphasis is placed on improving access to and use of data to better monitor targets and for more informed decision-making, which includes making better use of disaggregated and geospatial data, and strengthening countries’ statistical capacities.